Washington Park Cemetery

Washington Park Cemetery was established in 1920 in Berkeley, Missouri. Andrew Henry Watson and Joseph John Hauer founded the cemetery as a for-profit Black cemetery in St. Louis. Initially, many Whites saw a homestead's conversion into a cemetery as a loss and an invasion (St. Louis Post Dispatch, 1). Before being a cemetery, the property belonged to B. H. Lang, a vice president of the United States Grain Corporation. Whites saw the loss of farmland in the county as a devasting blow. Eventually, the cemetery would grow to be the most prominent African American cemetery in St. Louis.

Washington Park Cemetery was established in 1920 in Berkeley, Missouri. Andrew Henry Watson and Joseph John Hauer founded the cemetery as a for-profit Black cemetery in St. Louis. Initially, many Whites saw a homestead's conversion into a cemetery as a loss and an invasion (St. Louis Post Dispatch, 1). Before being a cemetery, the property belonged to B. H. Lang, a vice president of the United States Grain Corporation. Whites saw the loss of farmland in the county as a devasting blow. Eventually, the cemetery would grow to be the most prominent African American cemetery in St. Louis.

       Four different construction projects would chip away at the cemetery. The first was the construction of highway 70, which required 75 acres of the cemetery to be taken and caused the cemetery to be bisected. This division was not on the side of the cemetery or located near the cemetery but instead was right through the middle, allowing motorists on highway 70 to see the plots. Additionally, rumors of graves not being relocated and paved over have proliferated through the years. The second and third significant development to impact the cemetery was expanding the St. Louis Lambert International Airport. The airport purchased nine acres of the cemetery in 1972 when it expanded. More of the cemetery was claimed when the airport expanded again in 1996. The fourth construction came when MetroLink claimed a portion of the cemetery in 1992. This was done to connect the airport to the current rail routes. 

Sadly, these four different constructions lead to many families losing track of their loved ones' burial locations. The number of remains moved to twenty-three other cemeteries ranges from 12,000 to 13,600 interred individuals. At the time, this was the most extensive human remains relocation project in the country. Many of the remains were misplaced due to mismanagement of burial records (Arnold, 3). In 1980, the cemetery was closed to the public. Human remains were not removed again, and the grounds were allowed to fall into disrepair. The city of Berkeley bought the cemetery in 2019 for $30. Today, dedicated volunteers keep the cemetery grounds clean and reset fallen headstones. 

In addition to the many disruptive construction projects that divided up the cemetery, billboards were also installed to distract from the fact that this is a place of reverence. Billboards were put up on the cemetery in the 1980s when DDI Media purchased a portion of the cemetery. In 2020 the billboards were removed from the cemetery after Wanda Brendon sued DDI Media. Brendon claimed that the billboards violate the remembrance of those interred there. The lawsuit did not seek financial restitution, and DDI was ordered to remove the billboards.

Benchaabane, Nassim. “Billboards Tower above Headstones in Run-down, Historic Black Cemetery. One Volunteer Says They Must Go. Others See Wider Concerns.” STLtoday.Com, https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/billboards-tower-above-headstones-in-run-down-historic-Black-cemetery-one-volunteer-says-they-must/article_93d51c6d-df62-5dd0-826f-6ec51b59f7b3.html. Accessed 18 Apr. 2022.

“Charles Hubbard Thompson.” RagPiano.Com, http://www.ragpiano.com/comps/cthompsn.shtml. Accessed 18 Apr. 2022.

“County Residents Object to Negro Burial Ground.” St. Louis Post Dispatch, Sept. 1920, p. 1.

Gillerman, M. “Families Are Anxious About Plans To Relocate Graves. St. Louis Post Dispatch.” St. Louis Post Dispatch, p. 15.

Higher Ground: Honoring Washington Park Cemetery, Its People and Place · WUSTL Digital Gateway Image Collections & Exhibitions. http://digital.wustl.edu/washingtonparkcemetery/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2022.

Hollingsworth, H. “Billboards That Tower over Cemetery to Come Down.” St. Louis Post Dispatch, July 2020, p. A5.

“MetroLink Aims Radar At Tunnel.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 28 Jan. 1993, p. 27, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100891312/washington-park-cemetery-metrolink/.

Salter, J. Billboards Above African-American Cemetery Prompt Lawsuit. 23 Apr. 2019, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/missouri/articles/2019-04-23/billboards-above-african-american-cemetery-prompt-lawsuit.

“‘Something Has to Be Done’: Telling the Story of One of the Oldest Black Cemeteries in St. Louis.” STLPR, 3 Mar. 2017, https://news.stlpublicradio.org/arts/2017-03-02/something-has-to-be-done-telling-the-story-of-one-of-the-oldest-Black-cemeteries-in-st-louis.